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China fires officials coverup { April 20 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
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China fires officials over Sars cover-up
By James Kynge in Beijing
Published: April 20 2003 11:47 | Last Updated: April 20 2003 19:29
China dismissed its health minister and Beijing's mayor after announcing a near 10-fold increase in the number of people infected with the deadly Sars pneumonia in a capital appalled at its government's cover-up of the health crisis.
The Chinese authorities also cancelled a week-long national holiday that runs from May 1, reflecting the growing economic fall-out from the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) epidemic. The May holiday has in recent years provided a significant boost to tourism and retail sales.
The sacking of Zhang Wenkang, the health minister, and Meng Xuenong, the Beijing mayor, is the most public policy U-turn made by the Chinese government since the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989. It was also intended as a warning to officials in other cities to stop under-reporting of the disease, official sources said.
Gao Qiang, vice-health minister, told reporters that an investigation by top leaders on April 15 had revealed 339 infections, 18 deaths and 402 suspected cases of Sars in Beijing. This was nearly 10 times the previously reported 37 cases and four deaths.
Although there was no official reason for the dismissal of Mr Zhang and Mr Meng, there was no doubt that they were forced to take responsibility for a cover-up in which authorities have hidden cases at secretive military hospitals, downplayed the seriousness of the disease and strictly limited media coverage.
It is rare for serving officials to be fired for policy failures.The last was Niu Maosheng, a water resources minister, who was found in dereliction of duty during ravaging floods in 1998. However, his dismissal was more low-key than Sunday's and he has been installed in a series of high posts since.
Beijing citizens were largely unimpressed with the dismissals, with many speculating that the minister and the mayor were merely accomplices in a cover-up ordered from the very top of China's hierarchy. "These two guys are scapegoats," said Ma Running, a Beijing resident living near one military hospital.
Nevertheless, the sackings were expected to add authority to an order last week by Hu Jintao, the Communist party chief, for full disclosure of the disease's spread. Beijing is by no means the only place thought to be under-reporting. Shanghai, China's most international city, is currently reporting one case but is thought by medical experts to have many more than that.
The main disincentive for authorities to report cases has been a fear that the spread of the disease could jeopardise economic development and social stability, the two main objectives of any Chinese official. But signs of a significant economic impact are growing.
Tourist arrivals in Beijing have virtually halted, industry executives said, and hotel occupancy
rates are starting to slump dramatically as not only foreign but also local businessmen cancel their trips. So far, however, there are few accounts of foreign investment or trade decisions being delayed by the disease and most economists predict that the disease may have only a modest impact on gross domestic product, which in the first quarter expanded by 9.9 per cent - its fastest rate in six years.
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